The present invention relates generally to a function of a mobile communication device for facilitating the use of the mobile communication device, and it relates particularly to using a hands free function in a mobile communication device comprising two separate user interfaces. The invention is also related to a double-acting mobile communication device, two separate user interfaces of which can be simultaneously utilized.
Mobile telephones operating in a cellular radio network have become common and widely used personal communication devices. In addition to the conventional telephone operation, mobile phones of prior art can be equipped with numerous accessories that diversify their use. One known accessory arrangement is the hands free equipment that is meant for facilitating the use of a mobile phone in a situation, where the user can't hold the telephone in his/her hand continuously, e.g. because of driving a car. This kind of an arrangement can include e.g. an additional speaker, through which the voice from the telephone can be reproduced with increased volume, a car microphone to be disposed near the user who is in a normal driving position, power supply means for supplying electric power from the electric system of the car to the mobile phone and switch means for switching on the hands free equipment when the telephone is put to its rack in the car.
From the patent publication U.S. Pat. No. 5,175,759 it is known a solution, wherein a flip acting as an operating switch and covering its keypad also activates the hands free function when needed. The solution in question provides a hands free equipment like the one described above and delivered as accessory, and when a movable flip element covering the keypad is opened, a control unit of the telephone checks, if the telephone is connected to the hands free equipment. If the result of checking is yes, the control unit goes to a standby state for receiving operation commands through spoken voice or by other means.
In the future, mobile phones will be equipped with a greater variety of functions than today, which will diversify both the telecommunication in itself and the use of mobile phones in connection with the telecommunication or as addition for required peripheral functions. From the patent publication U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,346 it is known a mobile phone, the numerical keypad of which can be turned to one side, revealing a larger alphanumeric keyboard below it. In the mentioned publication an object of the invention is said to be a mobile phone, which can include an electronic notebook function, and it is proposed that the power supply to the radio sections of the device is switched off when the notebook function is used. Additionally, from the publication "Portable Communication" by Peter E. Jackson and David A. Deans, Proceedings of the National Communications Forum, 42 (1988). September 30, No. 2, Chicago, IL, USA, it is known a personal communication device including both a numerical keypad and a character keypad in a device resembling modern mobile phones. It appears from the text of the publication that it expressly refers to a mobile terminal of a wide-area communication system, where the terminal can freely move within the coverage area of the system and where the system monitors the location of the terminal so that it can correctly route calls to a certain terminal device. In said reference publication the device is presented at an outline level, and there is no detailed description of its structure or functioning.
From the Finnish patent application "Double-acting communication device" filed at the same time with the present patent application, it is known a quite new kind of a personal communication device, comprising, like shown in FIG. 1, two separate user interfaces. The first user interface 1 is substantially equal to the user interface of mobile phones of prior art. It is located on an outer surface of the device and includes in its preferred embodiment a speaker 3, a microphone 4, a numerical keypad 1a and a small-sized display 1b. In order to use the second user interface 2, this so called double-acting communication device will be opened, so that a large display 2a and a complete alphanumeric keypad 2b, a so called QWERTY keyboard become accessible. By means of the first user interface, the device is intended to be used like a conventional mobile phone of a cellular network, whereat the device can be kept closed and is, because of its compact shape and small size, easy to handle. Through the second user interface, text and graphical messages as well as data and telefax messages between computers can be transmitted and received and an electronic notebook or a calendar and eventual additional functions like a calculator program, an electronic dictionary, etc. can be used. The two user interfaces of the device can be used independently of each other, but also simultaneously so that the user, e.g. in the middle of a telephone conversation, can open the device and check from the electronic calendar an appointed date or write down an important note in the electronic notebook.